


Gentle Cleansing

by Destielismylove



Category: Supernatural
Genre: M/M, Wing Grooming, Winged Castiel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-30
Updated: 2015-08-30
Packaged: 2018-04-18 03:15:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4690148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Destielismylove/pseuds/Destielismylove
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cas is getting uncomfortable since he hasn't cleaned his wings in a while. Since he doesn't have much grace left, he asks his friend to help him clean them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Gentle Cleansing

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Bunkerfic: Castiel gets a little uncomfortable and restless, and realizes he needs his wings groomed. He asks Dean to help him out. During the grooming both of them realize that their feelings go a little further than friendship. (First time: first kiss or first time they sleep together; your choice! ^_^)
> 
> Find the challenge [here on facebook](https://www.facebook.com/notes/destiel-forever/destiel-forever-fanfic-challenge-1-masterpost/476372949184837)
> 
> Find the fanfics [here on AO3](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/DESTIEL_FOREVER_WAYWARD_WRITERS)
> 
> Find my tumblr [here](http://destielismylove.tumblr.com/)

Cas had begun to get really restless lately, venturing around the bunker constantly, his shoulders cramping and tensing constantly, and he was feeling very uncomfortable in his own skin. He didn’t even think about what he needed until he felt the pull of his grace at his shoulder blades, and he flushed when he realized what needed to happen.

His wings needed grooming. It had been a while since he had last been able to do that, his corporeal version being much more flexible and being able to clean his wings more efficiently. However, with his human body, it was more difficult to make sure they were taken care of as they needed to be. And even though he had his grace, he didn’t want to waste any of his waning grace to do a job that should be simple enough. And besides, he had some good friends that would be willing to help him out. So he started searching out Sam.

When he found him in the library, he was deep into his current book and was too engrossed to help, especially when Cas wouldn’t elaborate on what he needed from Sam. So instead, he went after Dean, knowing that he would help Cas with whatever he needed. At this point, his wings had become quite uncomfortable, to the point where he kept rolling his shoulders, trying to ease even some of the pain.

So when he found Dean, he was equal parts relieved and annoyed that it had taken so long. As Cas knocked on Dean’s door, he heard shuffling and even a muffled “fuck” as he heard something fall to the floor. When the door finally opened, Dean was hiding most of the way behind the door, with his wet hair hanging in front of his face. “Yeah? What is it Cas?”

Cas moved between the door and the frame, even when Dean scoffed and tried to huff out a rebuttal, but by that time, Cas was already in the middle of Dean’s room and rolling his shoulders even more. When Cas turned around, it was to find Dean shutting the door and trying to keep his towel up around his hips.

“What the hell, Cas! You gotta ask before you just barge into someone’s room.” Dean said, looking around to try and find a pair of boxers to put on so he wouldn’t have to worry about the towel.

“Dean, please, I wouldn’t come to you if I didn’t need it.” Cas said, a tone of urgency in his voice.

“Cas?” Dean asked, concern marring his features as he looked his friend over.

“Dean. This is a, uh, very personal matter that I must ask you to help me with. One that I wouldn’t ask of anyone unless it was completely necessary.” Cas said as he walked back in forth in the small space of Dean’s room, not even able to keep his hands still any more.

Dean just looked more worried than anything, moving closer to Cas and reaching a hand out to still Cas and make him look at him.

“Cas, whatever it is. We can deal with it. But ya gotta tell me what’s wrong.” Dean said, looking at Cas, trying to be as reassuring as he could be while also being a little worried about what Cas was referring to.

“Dean,” Cas sighed out, his shoulders slouching in defeat, “it’s my wings, Dean. They hurt and I’ve never been able to properly reach all of them to be able to give them a thorough cleaning. If you would be so kind, I would greatly appreciate your help in cleaning them.” Cas had looked down through his entire explanation, so when he looked up to see a slightly confused expression on Dean’s face, he used the tiniest bit of grace to make them appear.

“Woah dude.” Dean said, stepping back a little to get a look at the entirety of Cas’ wings, which unfolded would have easily touched the walls of Dean’s room. A sleek and shiny black lined the ridge of his wings and the tips of his feathers were damaged, holes and damage clear against the bright white of the rest of his wing. Dean reached out mindlessly, before pulling back before he could actually touch the feathers.

“It’s alright Dean. You’ll have to touch them anyway to clean them.” Cas said, looking to Dean’s face so he wouldn’t have to focus on the burns and missing feathers that appeared all throughout his wings. So the awe that he saw on Dean’s face was a blast of fresh air. When he only saw his wings and saw disgust at how ruined they were, Dean was amazed, which Cas couldn’t entirely understand.

“I know they aren’t the best wings, but they do hurt so I wouldn’t have made you see them any other time. If they make you uncomfortable, I can attempt to clean them myself.” Cas said, trying to pull his wings back in before Dean could show any disgust.

“Hey. Cas. It’s alright dude. They look pretty amazing to me.” Dean said, as he approached closer, finally reaching a hand to touch the top curve of the Cas wing, feeling the feathers that should have been soft if they weren’t singed in some places. Even the bald spots where feathers used to be were softer than Dean had expected. He ran his fingertips over all that he could reach without stepping around; even running his hand over the long feathers that composed the actual wing. The burnt feathers on the bottoms of his wings were soft to begin with and changed to become sooty and easily fell off.

“How did this happen, Cas? I thought your grace would have healed any injuries you had?” Dean said, looking sadly at the feathers that had to be painful.

“Dean,” Cas said, pulling Dean’s attention back to his face, “these burns are from Hell. Angels haven’t been able to heal their wings when they’ve been burned by the fires there. That’s why Lucifer has trouble flying as well. His wings have been burnt away for a while now. But these are almost like scratches for humans. They’ve healed as well as they’re going to, and they’ll leave a scar.” Cas told honestly, looking away from Dean’s face when he saw it drop.

“So this is just another thing you gave up to get me out of Hell? Goddamnit Cas.” Dean sighed out, the pain evident on his face when he closed his eyes tight against the memory. “So you were able to heal me, but you couldn’t even heal yourself? Why would you choose that when you knew this was gonna happen to you?” Dean asked, desperation lacing his voice as he reached out again to touch the burnt edges of his feathers.

“It was what I had to do, Dean. The sacrifice of my wings was mine to make, and I don’t regret it for one moment.” Cas sincerely said, pushing his wings against Dean’s hand.

“Cas.” Dean said, pain easily etched in that one word. He sighed, and asked “Alright, so what do I need to clean these then? Will body soap and water work? Or do you need anything more?”

“Those should work very well Dean. Thank you.” Cas replied, sitting down on the bed and ruffling his feathers again, a feather or two falling to the ground.

Dean ventured back into the bathroom to grab the soap and a washcloth, even going so far as to grab a cup to keep some more water in just in case. He thought if he should put his boxers back on that were in the bathroom, and decided against it so that he wouldn’t get them wet from cleaning Cas’ feathers. He did, however, grab another towel to try and dry his wings off, thinking that might help them in the end. 

Dean walked back into his room, noticing that Cas had kept the trench coat on. “Don’t you think you need to lose the shirt if we need to clean all of your wings?” Dean asked, thinking that the joint where his shoulder and wing connected might need some cleaning as well.

“Yes. I do suppose that would be a good idea.” Cas agreed, making his wings disappear and standing to remove his coat and shirt, before again sitting on the bed and revealing his wings.

“Alright so is there a certain, um, pattern or anything that I need to follow? Anywhere that’s particularly sensitive that I might need to focus on?” Dean asked, laying the soap and wet washcloth on the bedside table. He moved behind Cas, looking at the grime that lay around the joint on Cas’ back and along the rest of his wings, deciding that he’d maybe start at the center and then work his way out.

“No, there’s not anything specific. Just follow the flow of the feathers and that would help greatly.” Cas replied, his back straight and tense awaiting the first feel of someone else touching his sensitive wings. So when Dean reached out to touch Cas, the flinch made Dean jump back a little bit.

“Dude, it’s okay. I’m not gonna hurt you or anything.” Dean said, trying to sound reassuring, even though he didn’t quite feel confident himself about that statement. “Now, you can tell me if at any time I hurt you. But I’ll try my best. Now we’re gonna start with the washcloth and just try to get as much of this dirt away as we can, okay?” Dean asked, making sure he talked to Cas the entire time to try and get him to relax.

“That sounds acceptable Dean.” Cas said, trying to hide the way his breathing sped up in anticipation of Dean’s touch. And with the first movement of the washcloth against Cas’ skin, he jolted a bit, feeling the cold water against his already heated skin. Dean quickly pulled his hand away from Cas, fearing that his wings were too sensitive even for the rough texture of the cloth. “I apologize, Dean. It was just a bit cold.” Cas said in explanation.

“Okay. I can go get warmer water if you want me to?” Dean asked.

“No, I should be okay now that I know what to expect.”

Dean sighed, shifting to get closer to Cas and putting his other hand on Cas’ back to support himself. “Alright, here we go again.” Dean said, trying to get a little humor into the situation. This time, Cas didn’t jolt when the cloth was placed against his skin, instead, he let out the breath he’d been holding and relaxed slightly. And when Dean rubbed against Cas’ skin, he could almost hear Cas purring against the movement.

Dean slowly worked his way from the joint to the base of Cas’ wings, apologizing each time a feather fell from Cas’ wings. And when Dean crested the top of the wing, the hard shudder that wracked Cas’ body made Dean pull away and rub over Cas’ back, trying to comfort the angel. “Shh it’s alright Cas, I’m sorry, we’re almost done with this one and then we can be done for a little bit. It’s alright hon.” Dean said, trying to make Cas’ more comfortable.

And to Cas’ surprise, that actually helped to clear his mind of what he was feeling. He didn’t entirely expect to feel such euphoria while Dean was cleaning his wings, it had never happened before when he had cleaned his own wings, but then again, he had never meticulously cleaned them with the care that Dean was showing. He could usually just use his grace to clean them, but since he was on a limit with his grace, he couldn’t exactly be cleaning his wings with what he had left.

And that’s when Dean decided that he could clean the rest of Cas’ wing, taking care to go over the crest as delicately as he could, making sure that Cas was comfortable again. With each slow stroke of the cloth over Cas’ wings, the dirt and grime fell from each feather, revealing the snow bright white that was Cas’ wings. But that still didn’t get rid of the burns that graced the tips of the feathers. Dean actually went back into the bathroom, making Cas question where he was going.

“I’ll be right back, I just gotta grab something for these.” Dean said, still holding the towel up as he went to find the burn ointment, thinking that it certainly couldn’t hurt. When he came back out holding the tube, Cas’ face got even more scrunched in confusion. “Burn ointment,” Dean replied, “figured it couldn’t hurt to try.” Cas’ small nod was all it took for Dean to sit behind Cas again and pour a small glob in his fingers. “Now, this might sting a bit.” Dean said, not waiting for a reply before he pressed his fingers along the bottoms of Cas’ wings. Cas gasped, but otherwise, stayed quiet as Dean caressed his sensitive feathers, wringing his pants in between his hands and biting at his bottom lip to keep from making a noise.

Between Dean’s light touches and the cooling peppermint feel of the ointment, Cas had so many conflicting sensations going through his brain. The angel part of him said that he needed to move away, that he was too good for these sinful feelings. But the human part, the part that was getting to be much stronger, was telling him to lean into Dean’s hands, even wanted Dean to touch other parts of him. But of course, Dean was just doing this as a friend, didn’t possibly want anything more from Cas. And yet, Cas felt Dean’s fingers linger on his feathers, and his other hand linger on his back, making small soothing circles in his skin.

“Alright Cas,” Dean spoke up, startling Cas out of his silent reverie, “looks like we’re done with this wing. Time to move to the other one.” And Cas could have sworn that he heard a sort of breathlessness behind the words. “I think this time; I’ll want to start with the front. That seemed to be the worst of the other wing.” Dean said, putting his hand onto Cas’ side, trying to pull him around so that Dean could sit at the side of him.

Cas maneuvered himself around, so that he could look at Dean, as well as spread his wing towards the top of the bed. And the red on Dean’s cheeks was a curious thing to Castiel. “Dean, are you alright? You’re face seems quite red.” Cas said, trying to make sure that Dean was okay and the exposure to his wings wasn’t what was causing that.

“Oh, is it? I guess it’s just hot in here.” Dean said, still looking at Cas’ wings and reaching up with the cloth to again, start cleaning the feathers. Cas watched Dean’s face as the other man kept cleaning the wings. Each look of concentration fascinated Cas, made him want to know the thoughts behind each crinkle of his eyes, behind him biting his tongue in his cheek as he carefully swiped each feather with care. And Cas couldn’t help but feel his body start to react to the caresses over his feathers and the light touch on his side. Each movement made him want to shift in his seat, or even give some sort of relief to his aching member. And that made Cas start a bit. He hadn’t even noticed that his penis had begun to harden and ache for contact. And that made Cas blush even more and try to pull his wings around himself.

“Hey man, are you alright?” Dean asked as the wing was jerked from his grip, leaving a few feathers behind in Dean’s grasping hand.

“Yes, I just believe that my wings are clean now.” Cas replied, trying to hide himself behind his wings.

And from the look on Dean’s face, he didn’t exactly agree. “Cas, I haven’t even cleaned the back of this wing. So obviously, somethings wrong.” Dean said, trying to keep some strength in his voice, even as he could feel his own dick throb against his thigh, the towel not doing much to hide his reaction.

Dean had tried to suppress his reaction to Cas for as long as he could, but the splendor of his wings, and spending so much time touching Cas, he didn’t know how much longer it would be until Cas recognized his predicament and said something about it, being the blunt angel that he’d grown to love.

And that’s when he recognized Cas’ hands in his lap, trying and failing to hind the erection that was showing through his suit pants. “Oh. I see.” Dean said, blushing even more with both embarrassment and arousal. “That’s okay Cas. Your wings are sensitive so…” Cas said, trying to make Cas feel better, but he was interrupted by Cas almost immediately.

“Dean.” Cas breathed out, “It’s not _just_ because you’re cleaning my wings. It’s been you. Since the beginning when I didn’t know what was happening, but now I know. It’s always been you. Everything you do just drives me to the edge of my humanity and makes me happy that I’ve given up heaven and my grace and everything else for you.”

Dean was shocked, not only at the amount of words Cas, had spoken, but the meaning behind it. Cas felt the same way. Dean could feel a smile start to grace his face as Cas looked up at Dean, trying to gauge his reaction.

Cas set the cloth down that he’d been holding, and moved that hand up to Cas’ face, holding the other man closely, until Dean leaned in ever so slightly, and stopped right before he made contact, looking at Cas’ eyes that were open and looking at Dean. “Say you want this.” Dean breathed into the space between them.

“More than anything else.” Cas sighed as he leaned into Dean, placing his lips against Dean, his feathers fluttering out in happiness.


End file.
